A WORLD Championship pentathlete has joined the Sports Law Team at Brabners Chaffe Street as the firm celebrates another successful year.
Solicitor Matthew Barnes has moved to the Liverpool-based firm from Manchester law firm George Davies.
Matthew, who is also a sub-four minute miler, will be part of the Brabners Chaffe Street team working on a wide range of regulatory and legal matters in sport.
During the past 12 months, the sports team has once again been at the centre of some of the biggest stories in the industry including advising the FA on the appointment of Fabio Capello as England manager; advising two of the first three sponsors of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including Adidas UK, on their respective partnership deals; representing Wigan Athletic before FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the ground-breaking case surrounding the transfer of Andrew Webster; advising Premier Soccer League, the governing body for top flight football in South Africa, on all its recent sponsorship and broadcasting deals up to 2012; advising Liverpool on Javier Mascherano’s long-term registration with the club and Manchester United on the signing of Carlos Tevez from West Ham United; appointment as legal advisers of the organising committee of the first ever FINA World Swimming Championships to be held in the UK with the host city being Manchester; and organising a number of high level seminars on the FA’s new regulations for football agents attended by a large number of Premiership and Football League clubs.
Maurice Watkins, Brabners Chaffe Street joint senior partner and head of the firm’s sports law team, said: “Once again the sports department has advised on some of the biggest deals in the world of sport.
“Time and again, we have shown that we have both the quality and breadth of skills and experience to handle some of the most complex and challenging legal issues which arise in the professional sports industry.”
Matthew Barnes said: “It’s a great honour to be joining the Brabners sports law team and to have the opportunity to work on some of the biggest cases in sport.”
It is exactly two years since the James Chapman sports law team joined Brabners Chaffe Street.